AHL: Healthy to keep some fight in game

Bill Ballou AHL

Thursday

Mar 31, 2011 at 12:33 AMMar 31, 2011 at 1:14 AM

In May 1985, not long after I had joined the Telegram & Gazette, I was assigned to cover a symposium at Nichols College. It was called “Sports and American Culture,” and one of the speakers was ex-Bruins defenseman Mike Milbury.

He was, of course, asked about fighting and hockey, and this was his reply:

“You bet it’s a release. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to be able to punch someone in the mouth who’s just high-sticked you from behind.

“Sure, it feels good. That’s the one thing my father-in-law says he envies about my job. He’s a salesman, and he says there are times when he wishes he could drill some of the people he has to deal with.”

No wonder Milbury has become such a good hockey analyst. He gets it, and he can be articulate about it.

Every so often, the issue of fighting is raised, as it was last week in Portland. It always goes away, since most people — even hockey haters — understand that it’s not real life. If it were real life, the police assigned to be on hand would stop the game and arrest the fighters for, at the very least, disorderly conduct.

Me, I like fighting in hockey. I can go back to the 1960s and remember every fight I saw “Battleship” Bob Kelly win — and there were lots of them — and very few people, no matter how much they may protest, fail to get excited by a good, fair, clean fight. It is the most primal of human confrontations, and those who can fight well leave most of us a bit in awe.

As one veteran IceCats player once admitted: “I love the fights, as long as I’m not in them.”

Same here.

The idea that there is some lasting effect on society is ridiculous. Fighting in hockey is, more than anything, a result of the Canadian influence. It’s not part of hockey in the United States, and not part of Olympic or international hockey.

And Canada is one of the friendliest, warmest, safest and most welcoming places in the world. Really, the last time you were in Canada, did you see anyone fighting on the sidewalks?

So this Portland thing is already blowing over. That stuff always blows over because fighting has its place in pro hockey — always has, always will. It’s part of the game of hockey, but not the game of life. There is a difference, and most of the world understands that.

The Sharks’ playoff scenario looks like this: Both Worcester and Connecticut have six games left. If the Sharks win all six, the Whale need eight of 12 points to beat out the Sharks for third place. If the Sharks go 4-2-0, or some similar combination, Connecticut needs four points. So the odds are still stacked against Worcester.

At this time of the season, the opposition is immaterial. Take last weekend, when both teams went 1-2-0. Both lost two games to teams below them in the standings, one each to Providence by 4-2, and both teams got crunched at home by weak teams — the Sharks 7-2 by Springfield and the Whale 5-1 by Bridgeport.

Congratulations to Nick Petrecki for being the Sharks’ Man of the Year. That makes him eligible for the league-wide Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. … It is unlikely that Worcester will employ any more goalies this season, leaving it at seven for the year, a club record. It is not a city record, though. The 2003-04 IceCats used eight goalies. League-wide, Adirondack used 10 last season, including Carter Hutton. The most in recent memory was the 12 employed by the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in 2000-01. That kind of turnover might be enough to force a man to get out of coaching, but it didn’t for the Mighty Ducks’ head man that season, Mike Babcock. … Charlotte center Zach Boychuk is Player of the Week. He was 5-5-10 in four games for the Checkers. He’s the second Boychuk to be Player of Week, following Johnny of Providence — they are not brothers — in 2008. … Hershey veteran Keith Aucoin became the 21st AHL player with 700 or more career points. … Milwaukee has earned a point in 15 straight road games, tying a league record. … If he’s available next season, I would really recommend that the Sharks find a way to sign Greg Mauldin, currently with Lake Erie.

Tyson Sexsmith is 4-0-1 for Stockton since heading west to get some playing time. One of those wins was a shutout. His goals-against average is 2.52 and save percentage .910 since leaving Worcester.

Defenseman Jody Pederson, who went west with Sexsmith, is 0-5-5 and plus-4 in six games since going back. Also with Stockton is Jason Pitton, who departed Worcester voluntarily after making a pretty good impression, and who was on the receiving end of Sullivan’s “ESPN” hip check. Pitton was just 0-1-1 in nine games with Bridgeport after the check, then was released.

Steven Zalewski had five goals in his first five games with Albany after being traded and has five in 19 games since. Overall, he is 10-10-20 in 24 games with the Devils after going 4-17-21 in 50 games with Worcester. Jay Leach is back up with New Jersey; he was 1-3-4 and plus-4 in 16 games with Albany.

Two memorable short-timers from this Sharks season, goalie Daren Machesney and forward Chris Blight, are with Reading of the ECHL. Machesney is 3-3-0 in six games since going back there and has faced a lot of shots — 50, 45 and 44 in three of those games. He had a 45-save shutout. Blight is 18-16-34 in 26 games since his one Worcester game, in which he had two assists and was plus-2.

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